Honda City

While the interior cabin has remained unchanged all these years, the design nevertheless still manages to feel executive and premium for its segment. The all-black cabin with silver accents at the place does make one feel sporty to the tee.

The driver’s cockpit has been designed simply with a multi-functional steering wheel with round buttons and an instrument console with three round dials. The asymmetrical layout of the dashboard is quite distinctive, with the centre console slightly tilted towards the driver's side.

With sleek AC vents above, this centre console is a house to the large 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, below which there is a separate housing for the touch-sensitive panel for the automatic climate control.

While the Honda City is equipped with basic comforts like push-button start with keyless entry, leather upholstery, rear AC vents, and driver seat height adjustment, we would love to see more contemporary features on the board. The Honda City also has the reputation of being one of the most spacious cars in the compact sedan segment, with impressive legroom, shoulder room and under-thigh support.

The current generation Honda City available in the Philippines is actually the last generation model, for the all-new model has already made its approach in other markets. While it is a handsome looking car at first, over the years, it has gradually started to show its age.

The front look of the Honda City is quite sleek and premium, thanks to the nice chrome garnish placed in the middle of the honeycomb grille. The angular headlamps flanking the front grille are full-LED units in the top-spec variant and come with daytime running LED strips at the bottom of them. The fog lamps too are encased in separate looking housings and are all LED units.

The side profile of the Honda City looks very aerodynamic, thanks to the streamlined design and sharp crease running through the side profile, all the way till the edge of the tail lamp. The machined alloy wheels and chrome door handles further enhance its premium quotient.

At the rear, the Honda City looks comprehensively kitted with large angular tail lamps covering the majority of the width of the car, which are adjoined by a thin strip of chrome in the middle.

The Honda City is one of the finest handling cars in its segment, which is also backed by a comfortable ride quality, thanks to the sorted suspension setup of independent Macpherson struts with stabilizer at the front and H-shaped torsion beam with stabilizer at the rear.

Powering the Honda City is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine, which is the only powertrain available in the Philippines for the moment. Except the base variant which gets a 5-speed manual gearbox, all the variants get a CVT as standard, and with both the gearboxes, the engine produces a maximum power output of 120 PS and a peak torque output of 145 Nm.

The Honda City is armed with major safety amenities such as front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, vehicle stability assist, multi-view reverse camera, and hill start assist.

The current generation Honda City might have shown its age and is one of the oldest offerings in this segment, but it still holds its grounds quite firmly. The aerodynamic design with contemporary elements and features still manages to justify its presence, and the great combination of ride and handling along with a refined petrol engine makes it a delight for both drivers and passengers.